I use a George Wright tubed preamp going thru a Candella or a Quicksilver. Sound is wonderful, and there is no digital anything gonna smoke that combo. Cartridge is a Grado wood bodied Platinum. The current table is my trusty Acoustic Signature, but also have a couple JVC Q series tables that really sound great. The cable from the tone arm to the phono stage is critical. I use a Zu. From what you are saying, I'd investigate the tone arm and cartridge alignment. Also forget about all those numbers on the tone arm when setting tracking force. Get a digital scale, and run the force on the high side. Try adding one more gram of force as an experiment. If your using an O ring for a belt drive, get rid of the O ring!!
gary
